That made me dislike Melanie less. She might be dull and weak, but she definitely loved her sister with all her heart.
Fender came downstairs in his sweatpants, his hair still damp from the shower. He stopped near the coffee table and looked down at Melanie, as if he were giving her orders in silence.
Melanie rose to her feet and quietly excused herself.
When she went back upstairs, Fender took a seat across from me. He stole my glass of wine and took a drink before he grabbed a slice of French bread and stuffed it into his mouth. It was almost dinnertime, so he was probably hungry. He relaxed back into the couch and stared at me as he chewed. “My fiancée tells me her sister isn’t too happy about the news.” He started the conversation with contentious hostility, so my odds of success were already low.
“Can you blame her?”
Fender stared me down like I’d insulted him. “I’m richer than the devil, I’m good-looking, I granted her freedom… I think I’m perfect.” He grabbed the wine again and took a drink.
“Raven isn’t impressed by money. And she doesn’t want her freedom.” I couldn’t hide my sense of pride about her loyalty to me. She wanted me for me, not my money, not my looks. She’d rather go to that godforsaken camp to be with me than live a lavish lifestyle without me. It was something my brother couldn’t say about Melanie. “She wants to be with me wherever I go.”
He pulled the wineglass away from his face and held on to it as his arm rested over the edge of the couch. Seconds of intense eye contact followed before his eyes slightly narrowed. “Isn’t that romantic?” He brought the glass to his lips and took another drink. “If the bitch wants to work, let her.”
My eyes narrowed on his face. “Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“You know exactly what, Fender. I think Melanie is as dumb as a dog, but you don’t hear me saying that.”
My brother stared at me for a while before he set the wineglass on the table. “Sounds like this is getting serious…”
I held his gaze.
He didn’t say another negative thing about Raven, and I suspected he never would. “I guess I’m gonna have to learn to tolerate her, aren’t I?”
“She’s more than tolerable.”
“I disagree. And I’ll always disagree.”
The mood was already stark, and I wasn’t sure if this was even worth doing anymore. I decided to move into more positive subject matter. “When’s the wedding?”
He shrugged. “Whenever she gets a dress, I guess. We aren’t having a big ridiculous wedding. We’ll probably get married out on the lawn.”
“I expected you to throw a big party.”
He shrugged again. “She doesn’t know any of those people. Prefers it just be us…and the two of you.”
I knew Raven would attend, no matter how much she hated Fender. It was in her nature to take care of her sister, and no amount of resentment would stop her from being there.
“What do you want? I assume you have something else in mind besides discussing my wedding?”
I leaned back into the couch with my knees apart, regarding my brother with a steely gaze. “It’s time to change things, Fender.” I could list all my reasons, but none of them had ever changed his mind. It was always in the air between us, unspoken. It happened more often now because I was more determined than ever before to free the prisoners.
His gaze turned icy.
“Your fiancée used to be a prisoner there. Does that not change how you feel?”
He drank from the wineglass. “I know I’ve made that up to her.”
“And what about the rest of the girls?”
He released a long and drawn-out sigh, as if he was fighting to keep his patience with me. “We’ve discussed this before, Magnus. If there was another way, I would do it. There’s not.”
“There’s always another way. I will personally see to the project. I will personally vet every single person we hire. I will make sure they’re loyal.”
“There’s no way to be completely certain of hired help. The girls that we have are completely certain—because they’ll never leave.”
My fingers automatically tightened into a fist of pure frustration. “You’ve accomplished everything that you wanted. You have the money, you have the woman—now live your life. Stop living in the past. Stop trying to prove something to our decomposed corpse of a father. There is no reason to continue carrying on this way.”
Fender’s gaze shifted away like he didn’t want to talk about the man who had assassinated our family. “I’ve heard your concerns before. The only reason you are vocal once again is because that woman has a grip on your spine and she’s twisting it.”
“I’m glad she’s twisting it. Your fiancée wants the same. How do you expect to have a life with her when she doesn’t respect what you’re doing?”
“It’s just business.”
“But it’s not just business. It’s lives, Fender. I know you’re better than this.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not.” He suddenly sat forward with his arms resting on the insides of his thighs. He looked me dead in the eye as he spoke. “Our father murdered our family without any hesitation. He was a coward and took their lives in their sleep. He was a coward and didn’t kill himself instead of claiming the lives of innocent people. And you know what? I’m just like him. The evil that ran in his veins runs in mine.” He spoke in a different tone than ever before, sinister, cruel, terrifying. The demons he wrestled with came forth and started to pull him under the surface.
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. When you see shit like that, you never recover. I’m not human anymore. I don’t care about anyone or anything. And it’s much easier that way.”
I shook my head. “That’s not true. You asked a woman to marry you because you love her. You would take a knife in the chest for me because I’m your brother. It’s hard to carry the weight of the past on your shoulders, but don’t let it define you. You still have a soul. I know you do.”
His eyes looked empty, like he didn’t believe that. “I’ve already done what I’ve done. If there’s a heaven and hell, you know which one I’m going to. I’m damned, and nothing I do now will change that.”
I could feel the energy of self-loathing around him, feel the emptiness inside his chest just from listening to his words. He thought he was destined to be this villain, and no action would change the fate that had been decided for him. “I believe all people can be redeemed. All people can earn redemption. You just have to try.”
My brother stared at me for a long time, like he was thinking about something else instead of actually looking at my face. His mind was elsewhere. “You can be redeemed, Magnus. Your soul is still whole. You were still innocent. Me… It’s too late for me, and we both know it. May as well make as much money as I can and enjoy spending it all while I’m still here.” He set the glass down on the coffee table and rose to his feet as if this conversation was over.
I got to my feet and faced him. “Fender.”